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Ever since slavery was introduced as an institution, many have objected to it. This was a more nuanced issue in the United States, where the issues of legislative representation for slaves and outlawing slavery were heatedly debated. Because the United States was experiencing large scale population growth from 1776 to 1852 and gaining territory all the while, issues of slavery became more prominent. Sustaining an ever growing population required steadily larger amounts of slaves, so more of the people of the United States began to have strong opinions on slavery. The growing opposition to slavery in the United States from 1776 to 1852 was caused primarily by the combination of increased prevalence of anti-slavery texts and the growing economic reasons against it.
The growing opposition to slavery was especially prominent in the north, where emancipation and gradual emancipation were written into state constitutions and state laws. This can be seen in a map of early emancipation in the north from 1777-1804 (Document A). This document depicts the dates of the early emancipation of slaves in northern states. Because the majority of the northern states had significantly less agriculture than the southern states, there was less motivation to use slaves. It was not economically viable for slaves to be used in areas where agriculture was so sparse. Therefore, there was an increased opposition to slavery in the north due to economic factors. This is clear because of emancipation laws in the north shown in this document.
There were also growing concerns that slavery was economically unfavorable. Many feared economic competition, and free labor was damaging to jobs wherever they were. Many people and organizations suggested the emancipation and separation of free and enslaved black population from the United States (Document D). The American Colonization Society argued for the separation of races in order to benefit all involved parties. As the number of free blacks increased, they also posed an economic threat to other institutions, so there were even economic reasons to avoid importation of slaves in the first place. However, it is important to note that the American Colonization Society advocated and endeavored for emancipation and separation without challenging property rights or the South, and intended to compensate slave owners for their losses. This presents an inherent bias because the American Colonization society argued for the emancipation of slaves and their transportation to Africa for reasons not solely economic. However it is still important to recognize that because the purpose of the American Colonization Society in writing Document D was still to challenge slavery, the argument about the economic detriments of slavery still stand. This is because the white worker still benefits from the separation of slaves from the United States, and the audience for this article is every American who believes that there are problems with slavery. Therefore, the underlying motivations of the American Colonization Society do not detract from the argument, because the argument is relevant to the economic reasons slavery was problematic. Overall, the American Colonization Society argued that slavery was detrimental to the United States because of the detriments to all parties involved, and this included the economic impacts.
Once Congress had prohibited the importation of slaves in 1808, however, there were still economic problems with slavery. After the cotton gin had been invented in 1793, the value of cotton as a crop increased greatly. This also caused the value of slaves to increase along with it. Because of this, the number of slaves in the south increased greatly. Many people wanted to uphold the value of white labor, so this was of great detriment to them, increasing the opposition of slavery caused by economic reasons (Document H). Here, David Wilmot argues for free white labor, and how slavery utterly devalues it. Newer states, such as California, were declared as free states for this very reason, as people argued over whether or not slavery should be outlawed in new territories. Hence, it is clear that there was an increase in opposition to slavery due to economic factors. Even though David Wilmot argues for the benefit of the white laborers of the United States, he still had the purpose of ending slavery in mind. He even had introduced an amendment prohibiting slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico, a heavily debated topic after the Mexican-American War. Therefore, it is clear that Wilmot’s point of view was indeed anti-slavery, so the overall economic argument is clearly relevant to the economic reasons that opposition to slavery grew.
Even though there were strong economic reasons that opposition to slavery grew, the prevalence of anti-slavery texts played a large part in the steadily growing dissent against slavery. Many abolitionist newspapers and magazines were published in both the North and the South, until many were banned in the South. These anti-slavery texts were still standard in the North, and many newspapers in the South quoted the contents of these northern abolitionist texts, resulting in the contents of the anti-slavery texts still reaching large amounts of people. One person who wrote such abolitionist texts was Angelina Grimke, who appealed directly to women in the South (Document F). In this document, Angelina Grimke encouraged the Christian women of the south to take stronger anti-slavery stances, because she argued that slavery was immoral and harmful to women. She asked women to convince all members of their families to protest the cruel institution of slavery. As Angelina and her sister, Sarah Grimke, were well known abolitionists, it is clear that their texts had a profound impact on the stances on slavery at the time. Reformers like the Grimke sisters increased the amount of opposition to slavery by spreading such anti-slavery texts. In this text, Grimke addresses southern women in order to convince them to cast slavery aside. This was a very relevant audience to the shifting opinions of slavery from 1776 to 1852 because women often had prominent roles in the abolitionist movement at the time. This is because women at the time connected the ideas of reaching suffrage for women with the abolition of slavery. Ergo, Angelina Grimke’s text is clearly a reliable source to show how the opposition of slavery grew due to the increased prevalence of anti-slavery texts.
Other prominent abolitionist writers were former slaves who spread words of the horrors of slavery. A common pro-slavery argument of the time was that slaves were treated with kindness and educated, but many former slaves were able to easily disprove that with their firsthand accounts. The Underground Railroad provided a means of escape to the North for many of these slaves. One abolitionist writer who did not escape via the Underground Railroad, however, was Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass was a prominent anti-slavery activist who published many texts detailing the horrors and reasons against slavery. He even published his very own firsthand accounts (Document G). In this document, Douglass describes his fight with an overseer. He uses his emotions and pathos to show how he is no different than any other person, white or black. He explains how the institution of slavery crushes spirits and dreams. This document represents how Douglass was able to sway potential followers into opposing slavery. As a prominent abolitionist speaker, it is clear that Douglass’ purpose in this document is to sway people to the abolitionist side, so it is clear that this source is a reliable one that represents the shifting opinions about slavery at the time.
Because of the larger amounts of abolitionist sentiments at the time, ideas of immediate emancipation without any financial compensation rather than gradual emancipation were substantiated. There were also other supporters of the abolitionist movement, who were neither colored nor women. William Lloyd Garrison was one such abolitionist who wrote convincing texts to argue against slavery. He condemned the institution as a scourge and the worst thing for humanity (Document E). He appealed to the American people by using the American ideals of equality and liberty. Garrison was also a very famous abolitionist of the time, so it is clear that his works made an impact and increased the opposition to slavery. Among the other abolitionists of the time, Garrison was undoubtedly one of the more radical abolitionists, which caused more people to feel polarized about his arguments. Nevertheless, his arguments reached many people and because of them, the support for the abolitionist movement undoubtedly increased. It is clear that because of his anti-slavery texts, the opposition to slavery increased.
In conclusion, the opposition to slavery in the United States from 1776 to 1852 was caused primarily by the economic reasons against slavery and the growing prevalence of abolitionist texts. This increase in opposition to slavery eventually led to the American Civil War in the decades following, leading to the eventual abolition of slavery in the United States. It is clear that the abolitionist movement and the economic factors in the United States that favored the abolition of slavery played a large role in shaping the United States to reach the state that it is in today.
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